Replies to post #234041 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

You'll like this one from Ken Rogoff...N's.....special guy... ;)

Snip ~~

One must not forget that even after a period of stagnation, the middle class in rich countries remains an upper class from a global perspective. Only about 15% of the world’s population lives in developed economies. Yet advanced countries still account for more than 40% of global consumption and resource depletion. Yes, higher taxes on the wealthy make sense as a way to alleviate inequality within a country. But that will not solve the problem of deep poverty in the developing world.

Nor will it do to appeal to moral superiority to justify why someone born in the West enjoys so many advantages. Yes, sound political and social institutions are the bedrock of sustained economic growth; indeed, they are the sine qua non of all cases of successful development. But Europe’s long history of exploitative colonialism makes it hard to guess how Asian and African institutions would have evolved in a parallel universe where Europeans came only to trade, not to conquer.

Many broad policy issues are distorted when viewed through a lens that focuses only on domestic inequality and ignores global inequality. Thomas Piketty’s Marxian claim that capitalism is failing because domestic inequality is rising has it exactly backwards. When one weights all of the world’s citizens equally, things look very different. In particular, the same forces of globalization that have contributed to stagnant middle-class wages in rich countries have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty elsewhere.

By many measures, global inequality has been reduced significantly over the past three decades, implying that capitalism has succeeded spectacularly. Capitalism has perhaps eroded rents that workers in advanced countries enjoy by virtue of where they were born. But it has done even more to help the world’s true middle-income workers in Asia and emerging markets.

Allowing freer flows of people across borders would equalize opportunities even faster than trade, but resistance is fierce. Anti-immigration political parties have made large inroads in countries like France and the United Kingdom, and are a major force in many other countries as well.

Etc., ..I never looked at it like this and yes the way I see it it does have to do with trade pacts, & Yes he says Tax the Rich, even so...;) go read the whole thing it's not long.. it's a breeze ..........;)
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/europe-immigration-inequality-by-kenneth-rogoff-2015-05#AwpVZSBsyfTQylTB.99

I did get through your post .. not this one I'm replying to but the other one . .but, haven't even dug into any links yet, may be too deep for me ... ;)